Inventing Shadows
by BethSHeartbeat
Summary: Zoe's confused as to why everyone is completely blanking her, especially Max.


_**Day 7**_

Max stood on the pavement outside of the pub, where Zoe and he shared their first kiss. She stood watching him for a moment, before calling his name but he didn't even flinch, instead he stood frozen to the spot. Without warning he moved, but not towards her, he walked closer to the pub but never entered, instead he stood in the same spot that he was stood the first time he'd told Zoe he loved her. Zoe stood there just watching him, not sure whether to call his name again but her decision was made for her as she saw her colleagues leave the ED, and she was not going to embarrass herself with him not replying in front of others. Lofty walked up to Max, only then did he flinch slightly, Lofty said something although it was inaudible to Zoe from where she was stood, it was only then that Max shook his head and walked away.

_**Day 6 **_

Zoe lay in bed beside him, the duvet wrapped around them as she cuddled into him. Her hand touched his pillow, only to find it slightly damp as if he'd cried himself to sleep the night before. She removed herself from the bed to go and make him a drink to cheer him up, only then did she spot the picture of herself and Max all dressed up ready for one of their first official dates, the problem came when she realised that it was slightly screwed up. For a moment all she could do was stare at it, she felt her heart break a little at the idea that he was hurting and it was clearly down to her. Walking back up the stairs, she watched as Max pulled himself out of bed and dragged himself to the bathroom, the red circles around his eyes obvious against his pale skin, he completely blanked her as he locked himself in the bathroom.

_**Day 5**_

No one had said a word to her all day, in fact people refused to even look at her. Fair enough she was having an admin day but usually those were the days that people demanded her attention more than usual. The pile of work on her desk didn't seem to be shrinking and yet she'd been working all day without a break. More than anything she wanted to go up to Max's cupboard, but he too didn't seem to be talking to her right now. She looked around the office, the one she shared with Connie, for something to distract her, only to realise that the lilies that Max had bought her months back were gone, as were her photos of Max and her, and the ones of Sharice. Stepping out of the office to go and get her caffeine fix, she noted that no one even glanced at her, even Honey completely blanked her as she waited for her order to be taken at the café.

_**Day 4**_

Max stood in one corner of the flat that he and Zoe had recently bought, and were just starting to move into. His baggy jumper hung limply around his slimming frame as he moved to the recently unpacked sofa and sunk onto it. Zoe stood in the kitchen, watching him, this was supposed to be a happy time, so why did his face portray feelings of the exact opposite? The boxes dotted around the room seemed to be more full than she'd remembered them being, a thought that seemed to be confirmed as she noticed only her stuff laying around. She walked closer to him and stood in front of him, yet he seemed to stare straight through her as a tear rolled down his cheek.

_**Day 3**_

Zoe looked around, unsure as to where she was but knowing that she was waiting for Max. The walls were white, with various posters of helplines dotted around, the room smelt of disinfectant and hand sanitizer, a smell not too dissimilar to the ED. The plastic chairs in the waiting room were nowhere near as comfortable as they looked, she thought to herself as she continued to wait. There was a deathly silence about the place she was in, a silence that she found both intimidating and slightly peaceful. It wasn't long before Robyn appeared from the double doors at the end of the waiting room, Zoe hadn't remembered her being with them, Robyn chose to sit at the other end of the waiting room, a worried gaze etched on her face as it fixed upon the door that she'd just walked through.

_**Day 2**_

She twisted the ring on her finger gently, it was definitely new because she had never seen it before and now it rested on her ring finger. Briefly she wondered if Max had proposed and she'd been too drunk to remember it, the lack of headache made her wonder just how much truth there was to her theory. Sitting on the cold wooden table in his 'office', she waited for Max to finish transferring a patient so he could come and see her and they could spend some time together. Looking around she noted that the various band posters had been taken down and replaced with photos of the two of them together, she looked back down noticing that it had now been an hour that she'd been in the cupboard and Max never worked for more than an hour at a time without returning to his 'office'. She left the cupboard and walked back into the ED, it wasn't until she walked into the staffroom that she saw Max. He was sat on the sofa with Robyn and Lofty sat in front of him, trying their best to calm his breathing, immediately she recognised the tell-tale signs of panic attack.

_**Day 1**_

"Zo?" Max asked as she picked up the phone. "Where are you?" He asked, he'd been waiting outside the restaurant for just over 10 minutes now and he was getting impatient.

"I'm just coming, we had an RTC come in and I had to deal with that. I'll be 15 mins tops." Zoe replied.

"Okay, love you."

"Love you too." Zoe replied before pressing the red button on her beloved Blackberry, before slipping it into her handbag. As she started the walk to the restaurant that Max had picked for their date night, she once again questioned why she had decided not to drive.

Max smiled slightly as he saw his partner walk around the corner into view, immediately she beamed at him and waved slightly. His hand fell into his pocket as he once again made sure he had the ring in there, ready to propose to Zoe later that evening. The next few moments went into slow motion as Zoe stepped out into the road at the same moment as a car came speeding past, her fragile body flew up into the air as it hit the bonnet of the car before landing some 50 metres away from the initial point of contact. She'd never stood a chance. She'd never become Mrs Zoe Walker.

"I'm sorry, she's gone." Connie spoke gently to the young porter, who'd been sat in the relatives' room desperately waiting for news.

**A/N I hope this wasn't too sad, in case you hadn't got it this fic recounts the 7 days after Zoe's death, with her being a ghost. Also I'm not sure it was too obvious but on day 3, Max had gone to identify Zoe's body. **

**Beth x**


End file.
